AN: Over the years I've written bits and pieces of a few different stories. All of which I've never managed to finish before either starting something new or starting that particularly story again.

There are three main stories that I've tried to work on (all of which have pretty much featured a gengar or its pre-evolutions as the main character). Sometimes I've got different variations of the same thing (the same characters with different, names, personalities, species or genders) Sometimes it's the same idea taken in an entirely different way.

The one I like the least has Morty's gengar stolen and held inside a laboratory along with a load of other pokemon. They were all supposed to be wild so nobody would miss them but they screwed up there. He wasn't the only trained pokemon to be caught either.

So instead of letting some of these things go to waste I'm just going to post some of the chapters I think were the most fun to write. Don't expect these to ever get finished – I have my own stories I like to work on and I usually find it very hard to get back to a particular fanfic once I've been away from it. Generally because re-reading them makes me cringe.

Tl;dr:

This is a collection of some of the crap I've written over time because I thought maybe someone might get a kick out of reading it. Don't expect these to ever get finished.

Do expect to be a little confused and things to be repeated in different ways.

Maybe he had just gone on a small walk, Morty pondered as he gazed out of his office's window at Ecruteak's sombre buildings. His eyes scanned the nearby streets for extra shadows, slinking around on their own but he saw none. Seth was no where to be seen and Morty could not help but feel something was off. The pokemon hardly ever strolled past the corner shop; his territory was small and not well guarded due to the relatively quiet and reserved nature he possessed.

No thought could explain why the gengar had not come back when he was called, like he had always done before. His most obedient and loyal partner had gone missing and Morty could not understand how or why.

Through the quiet of the gym Morty thought he heard the creak of ancient floorboards and his heart jumped. He turned away from the window and bolted hopefully down the stairs. "Seth?"

"No. It's me."

Morty nearly bumped into a tall figure. Esuine was taking his olive green suit for a walk and his cape was tagging along, billowing extravagantly in tow. A rather disgruntled alakazam was trudging moodily behind him, sucking on the cutlery Esuine had failed to notice the creature had taken from his kitchen drawers. The eccentric man did not look pleased about something and Morty knew that it wasn't the continual absence of spoons in his house. Esuine was always too busy to eat anyway.

In unison, Morty and Esuine opened their mouths to speak and failed to hear what the other said.

"I've run some tests on that sample…"

"Have you seen Seth?"

"…seems to indicate that…" Behind Esuine, Alex took the initiative to shake his massive head, spoon rattling between his teeth. "…And there was also copper in the…"

"It's just that he's been missing for a little while now."

"Of course he's been missing, you fool!"

Morty and Alakazam looked at Esuine, not sure how to react to that inappropriate outburst. "It's not like him, Esuine. I'm worried."

"So am I, friend." He patted Morty on the shoulder. It did not help at all. "But he's due to come back soon. I'm certain. He always comes back."

"Yeah. Perhaps you're right. He does sometimes like to go on wanders alone. Everyone does. I just thought he'd be back by now. It's been six hours since…."

"No, six days. But that just means that at any moment we might catch a glimpse of him as he runs past. I've got some new camera's ordered and we'll go and… we have to hurry."

Morty glared as he realised that they had not been talking about the same thing but still Esuine kept on talking about capturing footage of the legendary pokemon Suicune. "Seth," Morty said with a bit more definiteness. It did seem to pull Esuine, kicking and screaming, back to reality. "Have you seen him?"

Esuine's eyebrows twitched in thought, and he took a brief and rare glance at Alex for some kind of clue. "Who's Seth?"

Pinching his nose, Morty groaned at, despite the man's brilliance, how incompetent Esuine could be and was glad that he was not the man's poor alakazam. Alex was giving him an extremely apologetic look on behalf of his trainer, or mental patient, as Alex's thoughts sometimes extruded themselves and admitted.

"My gengar." Morty said, chancing a glance at Esuine and fighting the urge to physically lash out at him.

He shrugged, still clueless. "What one? You've got like eight of them."

"Two, actually. The one that I've had since we were children. My first pokemon. The one that used to play with Alex when he was still an abra. That one, Esuine. That one."

Esuine exchanged a glance with his pokemon. It looked like he was berating him for not telling him sooner, but the outcome of that was Alex dropped his spoon with a clatter and folded his arms, giving his trainer a look of unbelievable irritation that was unsurpassable.

Now that he was fully dragged away from his obsessive studies Esuine looked a bit like a beached magikarp. He scratched at his temple with mild embarrassment. When the weight of the real and now finally pressed itself upon him his shoulders sank. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him, Morty."

Seven hours ago

It was a hot morning; two hot to lay stretched out on the worn carpets of the establishment and bask in the sun streaming through massive windows but still the massive hulk of corporeal feline still tried. Seth turned this way and that, digging claws into the age threads of the rug and played with the dust motes that filled the air. First it was a greenhouse; all warm and wet and then the sun really started to challenge him and the room became an unbearable furnace. That was when he slunk away, defeated, clambering onto the ledge of an open window and smelling the air.

Outside was less warm so he slid down the drainpipes from second to ground, not touching them but still causing them to rattle and howl in his wake. There he saw the league officials nosing around, examining the arena floor in their weekly checks and causing any new gym staff grief while the other ones looked bemused. Ecruteak's gym was in a constant state of being not up to mark. The building was protected by numerous laws and such that prevented changes to the historic building that the league would have just loved to make.

However, right now the doors were firmly shut to the public and two teenagers were skulking about on the opposite side of the street. They had an air of nervous impatience about them. He passed them by as he headed for the shady allies on the other side of the road, catching their curious gazes on seeing a ghost type walk so tranquilly across the road in daylight. If they did not know what kind of gym they were facing, they did now.

Seth leapt upon various fences and bins, testing his balance and sniffing around for something in particular. At last he caught sight of the rodent as he scurried around an upturned box. The little creature froze up for a brief moment when it sensed there was something around but did not run away.

("I think there might be leftovers in the gym bins.")

The rattata stood up on its haunches and fixed Seth with an unreadable look. ("You make far too much noise to be a predator you know. Maybe if you gave up that confounded chain of yours…")

("The chain is mine.") Seth fumbled with the object in question, feeling it in his relatively dexterous paws. It was a collar, with an engraved gym badge as a tag. He never took it off and never let anyone take it off. That was, unless he had to fight or pass through solid objects.

("You're a pokemon, not a pet.")

It was always the same conversation with this rattata. He was rather old for his species, and yet for some reason had not evolved and continually evaded capture. Unlike Seth he seemed content to sniff around decay and feed off of it. Occasionally though the rodent would tell him curious tales of things he had heard from other pokemon. But today he did not seem to be in the mood to share stories.

("I rather like the idea of lounging around and being petted.")

("One day your trainer will find a mate, have kids and then you'll regret that wish while the little brats pull on your tail, poke your eyes and stroke your fur the wrong way.")

The rattata suddenly stopped and his ears perked, hearing something unusual. Seth could hear many things but failed to understand what would have provoked him like that. Within seconds the rodent had bolted, scrambling down a drain in sheer panic.

Seth's tail flicked in confusion and he stared at where the pokemon disappeared so suddenly. It nearly put his own abilities to shame. It took him a long moment to realise there was a human standing in the alley, seemingly blocking off the only exit. He made a friendly sort of noise at the man and waited for him to make the move. Sometimes humans got excessively scared when they saw ghost types and Seth was less inclined to terrify them further and more inclined to coax them into giving him attention.

Letting the human move first happened to be the wrong decision, Seth realised too late. Nothing happened for a long while, and that was what was unusual. It became more evident that the man was not scared, and was becoming increasingly more confident while Seth became more ill at ease. This was not even how people approached him if they wanted to talk. He took a step back and flattened his ears, unsure what to do.

He thought he had been fast when he ran through the brickwork of the neighbouring building. He thought for a brief moment he had safely disintegrated into nothing and leapt out of danger but there was a rushing sound and a pop which was not normal. When Seth opened his eyes he saw nothing and heard nothing, barely remembering the sight of the shady character reaching into his pocket and pull out a fat disk of metal.

OoOoO

A long but indeterminable amount of time seemed to pass, the non-existent ground seemed to rumble beneath him and oftentimes woke him up. He had tried to escape the darkness but could not find a way out. Elemental attacks were absorbed and caused noises like thunder to rattle around the impossible space and the hair along Seth's back to bristle in terror. In the end he could not do anything and curled up, fidgeting with the tiny badge around his neck for comfort and wondering how long it would take Morty to discover he had been taken.

Eventually he experienced the rushing that started this place. It was like being released from a pokeball but much more noisy, pressurised and distressing. Seth frantically glanced around not recognising a thing. No longer was he in Ecruteak, or even outside. Steel brushed walls surrounded him and in one corner was a small mass of pokemon, warily eying him; the new arrival. He turned around and furiously tried to locate his captor, teeth bared.

No matter where he looked there was no sign of the man from the alley; not even of the device that had captured him. Cold panelled walls and a scratchy floor covered in old hay was the majority of his environment. That and the huddled lump of strange pokemon; but he would deal with them once he had figured out what was going on. Along one wall was a dusty mirror that had been framed and bolted to the wall. Seth's nose twitched in irritation as he convinced himself that the thing was really a window and his captor was safe on the other side. He scowled at it, trying to imagine where anyone might be standing on the other side and began to pace its length; never taking his narrowed eyes from it.

Extruding his senses he explored the room, scrutinising every particle and seeking out cracks that he could escape from. Each wall, floor and ceiling emitted a high pitched buzzing that clawed its way further into his head the longer he listened to it. Fury and panic was beginning to swell in his gut and his throat growled deeply. He was on the tilt, balanced precariously between control and throwing his weight around the room and he sensed the air around him prickle and spark as he felt the surge of power in his body grow in preparation.

He swung around once more and found one of the pokemon confidently blocking his path. He stared at it for a moment. It was a hefty looking creature with cream and lilac tinted fur. Not something he had encountered before but he could smell that it was both poisonous and dark. Numerous old scars decorated his face, and his missing teeth and greying muzzle betrayed his age.

Seth did not dwell on the pokemon for long and focused his attention on the mirror, lightly stepping around his obstacle. The beast moved, glaring moodily at him as if Seth was the one in his way. Stopping once more he gazed at the pokemon again and attempted to step by him only to be countered once more. It was unnecessary behaviour and Seth was a little bit unhinged by it. There was a hint of madness in his yellowed eyes.

("Don't you be starting anything,") he said with a snarl.

There was no question this individual was aggressive and reminded Seth of some of the horrible power-obsessed trainers that had stormed into the gym, pokemon snapping theatrically behind. Some were harmless and all about the show, and others were disgustingly abusive. This pokemon seemed closer to the latter and Seth looked levelly and impassively on, refusing to submit or be dragged into a fight. He had long ago come to the conclusion that this was the best way for him to deal with these kinds of characters; pay them no heed. He was lucky he had the strength to overcome the majority of them if they tried to start anything.

In clear defiance he rose up into the air, back turned away with disinterest and preoccupied himself with examining every molecule he could sense; the airflow from outside seemed to be non-existent, there was no space to squeeze through, no loose bolt, no unsealed ventilation shaft and that just proved what lengths his captors were prepared to go to. There were some indents in the walls that he poked at zealously but nothing gave him any slack.

They were in an airtight container, and that puzzled him greatly. How could they be breathing? Perhaps they had developed some device that recycled the air, or slowly released oxygen. It worried him greatly trapped he was and instead of pacing the ground began to drift in circles out of the other pokemon's way.

("You, ghost!") the old one snapped. His head was craned awkwardly upwards and his front paws shifted with discomfort. Seth flipped over and looked at him whilst upside down. This elicited a look of disgust. ("Disturber of the peace. Stop that ridiculous whirwind.")

Seth turned to see the other pokemon, whose expressions showed indifference to the dark type's words. A persian, delcatty and what looked to be her skitty were eying him curiously while a large black lion and a zangoose were whispering quietly together and giving the old whinging pokemon subtle irritated glances. It became clear that whatever came out of the dark type's mouth was not to think seriously about.

Something niggled him and he pivoted upright again and tried to pinpoint what it was. Something about the choice of pokemon. They were not categorised by type or number but there was something similar about them despite being incompatible in some cases. He looked at the old whiner and realised that he was also, sort of…

("feline,") he muttered, staring into space as he said it. His brow furrowed in thought.

("Two minutes in and he's already gone crazy,") the persian commented wryly. His voice was deep and steady, and with half-lidded eyes he had quite the air serious boredom around him. ("Perhaps he'll provide more entertainment than Nelson.")

The large dark type rounded slowly on the persian and glowered, muttering sourly under his breath. Seth decided that he was probably the one who was called Nelson.

("He's right, Tarus. I thought you would have seen.") The lion addressed the persian with a tone that rebounded around the room like a bass. He sat up. "I can't remember the last time I saw a ghost type in such close proximity."

AN: And that was all I wrote of that. I don't like this particular story but maybe someone gets something out of it, whether they think it bad or good.

For the record: Yes I do think gengar is some kind of cat – if you don't then tough luck for you in this set. Not sure about the others but I don't really care anymore.

Also: I can't be bothered to proof read these like I normally do, so sorry for any major mistakes.